Blank-shearing apparatus



May 27, 1924. 1,495,806

, F. RUDOLPHI BLANK SHEARING APPARATUS Fiid Dec.'. 5, 1921 INHVE' HZ Q ATORNEYS v 3 Sheets-Sheet l F. RUDOLPH] BLANK SHEARING APPARATUS FiledDec. 5. 1921 a Sheets-Shet 2 I, I I 1 ATTORNEYS F. RUDOLPH] BLANKSHEARING APPARATUS May 27 1924.

Filed Dec. 5, 192 1 s sh etysh pm Patented May 27, 1924.

- UNITED STATES FRANK RU DOLPHI, or. MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, assrononronivinnion'n' oaNIcoM PANY, or NEW YORK, 1 I.'Y., Acon-mnA'rIoN-or NEW,JERSEY.

BLANK-SHEARING Arena-Amos.

Application filed December citizen of the United States, residing inMontclair, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in Blank-Shearing Apparatus, of which thefollowing isa specification.

This invention relates in general to shearing machinesand has moreparticular reference to an improvement in such' machines wherebyrecovery pieces from the metad sheet'being operated upon may be obtainedin an efficient and rapid manner andwithout deformation'by buckling orother causes. It is the present custom where automatic machinery isemployed in the cutting of a number of articles from a sheet of tinplate, to first sever the sheet into strips by a shearing-machineandsubsequently to feed the strips so obtained through a press for thecutting of the desired articles. When the resultant article is of acircular configura-' tion it is the commonpractice to cut such circulardisks from adjacent rows of-the tin plate in a staggered formation. Thispermits a more economical cutting of the sheet and provides aminimum-amount of wastage. In order to-make-use of-a'n automatic feed inconnection with a press cutting the desired articles, it is usuallynecessary for-the strip to-contain one row of disk-spaces. The strip isso formed to accommodate the staggered formation of cutting of the rounddisks-by being provided with a scroll or undulating edge which permitsthe same economy as if the disks were directly cut from the sheets instaggered formation."

' In the cutting of this'sta'gger'ed strip it is found that spaces occurat the ends of-the strip which are not sufficient in size to make acomplete disk. It is desirable from the standpoint of -economy,-and isthe customary practice when a condition ofthis kind occurs, to cut fromthe spaces left other smaller shapes known in the art as the recovery.-The method usually employed for obtainingthe final recovery-consists infirst removing the metal containing-the recovery space from the stripand thence feeding the same into a recovery press Where thefinalrecovery is I cut. i To accomplish the removal of the metalstrip, atransverse cut is made and in a plane slightly beneath that of the s1921.- Serial No. 519,938.

shearing die. By this method the "transverse line across'the end of thestrip and the shearing line along the edgeiofh the strip are cut-atslightly different periods of time with the result that the recoveryendis buckled I and distorted. Ithas been found in practice that thisdistortion seriously interferes with 'thecorrect feeding and cutting-ofther'ecovery end in a recovery press, and it is toward a removal of thistrouble that my present invention is'directe'd.

A principal object of my'invention is tlie provision of apparatus forcompletely s'evering andremoving the recovery pieces from a metal sheetprior to the blanking or cut-' ting out-of the main strlps or rows ofdisk spaces.

A further and more comprehensive object of the invent on is the provsion in a machine of this character of shearing elements forindividually severing the recovery pieces and the-main blanks from thesheet without causing buckling or distorting of either of said parts. rf i Another important object ofthe invention is the provisionof-regular'shearing dies'and recovery dies operating simultaneously andthrough the same powe-r means, the mounting of the movable parts of bothsets being preferably ofunitary or integralconstruc-- tion. i

Still another object of thepresent invention is the provision of arecovery attach ment of simple and efiective structure and operationconsisting ofjparts easily applied t'o'sh'earing machines "of approvedconstruction.

Numerous other objects andadvantages of the invention will be apparentas it is better IlIlClGIStOOClwfIfOHl the following-(la the accompanyingdr'awings,discloses a pre 'Figure 11 is a transverse vertical-sectionthrougha shearing machine to whichthe ap-' paratus, embodying myinvention, is applied;

' Fig. 2 is a plan view partially in section I taken substantially onthe line 29-2 ;in "Fig.1;

Fig- 3 isan-enlarged detail sect-iontaken substantially" on the line 3-3of Fig. 2 "and Fig. 4 is a plan view of a-portioniiof a metal sheetprior 'to the cutting of the strips therefrom,the outline of thestaggered disk spaces being indicated by dotted lines.

The apparatus illustrated in the drawings as an embodiment of myinvention," comprises a body frame 11, supported upon a base 12, and inturn supporting a table 13, in which are secured female die members 14,14, adapted to cooperate with movable cutting'edges on a die member'15.The die member 15 is intermittently reciprocated by the usual mechanismemployed for this purpose, consisting, in the present instance, ofcross-heads 16, secured to a rod 17 having bearings 18 in the diemounting and operated through vertical shafts 19 by gearing. and cam orother suitable mechanism in the frame 11, this mechanism being operatedby a power shaft 21 having bearings in brackets 22. The die member 15 isslidable upon guides 23 and its weight is counterbalancedby springs 24which surround the rods 25 secured by nuts 26 to a frame yoke member 27mounted upon the table 13. The lower endsof the rods 25 are providedwith collars 28 which support the springs 24.

The blanks are fed in any preferred manner over the table 13 and uponthe stationary die parts 14, 14, and in order that the subsequentoperation may be readily understood, attention is now directed to Fig.4. Reference numeral 31 indicates the recovery piece which is removedprior to the cutting out of the strip portions or rows of disk spaces 32and 33. lVith the usual type of shearing machine the sheet is first outalong that portion of the lines and 36 that are shown in Fig. 4 to theright ofthe line 34, or in the complete or full sheet 38 that portion ofthe lines 35 and 36 that extend between the transverse lines 34. Thelines 34 are next severed and finally the ends of the shearing linesindicated in Fig. 4 as 35 and 36 are out. As has been heretofore stated,this results in subjecting the corners 37 and 37 to unusual strain withconsequent distortion both of the recovery piece 31 and the stripportions 32 and 33. To obviate this difficulty I provide mechanism, tobe now described, for completely removing the part 31 prior to thecutting out of the strips along the lines 35 and 36.

The tin sheet, generally indicated by the reference numeral 38, ispositioned between the die members 14, 14 and 15, the member 14'beingprovided with apertures 39 of the general configuration of the recoverypieces 31. These apertures are flared outwardly from the top andenlarged in the lower part of the die member, indicated at 41, to'permitthe cut out recovery piece 42 to fall readily therethrough. Chutes orguideways 43 are provided beneath the apertures 39 for directing therecovery pieces into a trough-like receptacl 44.

The movable die'member 15 has at each end thereof, and positioned at theside from which the metal sheets are fed, cutting edges 45 adapted tocooperate with the apertures 39 to completely out out the parts 31 fromthe sheets prior to the shearing of the strips which is done by acutting die edge 46 secured in and extending along the outer side of'themember 15. The shearing die edge is of the scroll or irregular formationof the strip portions outlined in Fig. 4, and cooperates with anaperture 47 of similar configuration to cut out the strips from thesheet. Referring to Fig. 3, it will be observed that the two strips 48and 49 are cut by a single operation of the die, the one falling throughthe aperture 47 and the other over the edge of the female die and both.being directed into a receptacle 51, a chute 52 being provided to guidethe strip 48 into said receptacle.

The cutting dges 45 and 46 are spaced apart in such manner that theedges 45 operate upon the irregular rows two steps in advance of theirreaching the aperture 47.

As the sheet is advanced in a direction crosswise of the rows the widthof two rows with each step, the alternate irregular rows aresuccessively positioned over the aperture 47 and when so ositioned therecover 3 pieces will have been completely removed, leaving the sheetwith long rows 32 and short rows 33 in alternate relation. In thismanner th recovery piece is subjected to but a single die action, all ofits edges being cleanly severed by the cutting edge 45, and the actionof the specially formed cutting edge 46 results in a complete and cleansevering of the long and short strips.

The lower or female die members 14, 14,

are secured in place by the ends 53 and extensions 54 of the yoke member17 and these extensions 54 are secured to the table 13 by bolts 55 and56, or in any preferred manner.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantageswill be understood from the foregoing description, and it will beapparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction andarrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe-invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the formhereinbefore described being'mere- 1y a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for cutting blanks from metal sheets in shape to have canends and the like formed therefrom, comprising in combination dies forshearing the main blanks and dies operating on the sheets in a positionin advance of the shearing dies to completely remove portions of saidsheets not usable for forming the articles to be formed from saidblanks.

blanks and dies operating in advance of said shearing dies for removingfrom the sheets parts which would be of irregular and non-usable form inthe subsequently cut main blanks.

3. Apparatus for cutting from metal sheets strips formed of rows of canends providing spaces, comprising shearing dies for severing said stripsfrom the sheets, and dies acting on the sheets in position in advance ofsaid shearing dies for completely cutting out irregular spaces at theends of alternate rows of can end providing spaces.

4. Apparatus for cutting blanks from metal sheets, comprising incombination dies for cutting strips from the sheets in accordance with astaggered lay out of adjacent rows of can end providing spaces, and diesacting upon the sheets in advance of said first mentioned dies forremoving irregular spaces occurring at the ends of alternate rows priorto the cutting out of said rows to form the blanks.

5. Apparatus for cutting blanks from metal sheets in shape to have canends and the like formed therefrom, comprising incombination scrollshearing dies, and dies acting upon predetermined parts of the sheets inadvance of said shearing dies to remove partstof the sheets not usablein subsequent operation upon the scroll blanks.

6. Apparatus for cutting blanks from metal sheets in shape to have canends and the like formed therefrom, comprising in combination dies forshearing the main blanks and simultaneously operating dies positioned inadvance of said main shearing dies for entirely removing parts of thesheets not usable in the subsequently out can end providing blanks.

7. Apparatus for cutting blanks from metal sheets in shape to have canends and the like formed therefrom, comprising in combination dies forcutting out the -main blanks, and dies for cutting out recovery piecesnot desired in the main blank form,

said dies acting upon the sheets to individually and completely out outsaid blanks and said recovery pieces in diflerent positions.

8. Apparatus for cutting blanks from metal sheets in shape to have canends and the like formed therefrom, comprising in combination mainshearing dies, and dies for removing parts of the sheets not desired inthe main blanks, said individual sets of dies having distinct andcomplete action upon the portions of the sheet operated upon therebyWithout subjecting either the main blanks or the recovery pieces to thestrain of successive cutting actions likely to cause buckling ordistorting of the metal.

FRANK RUDOLPHI.

